1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a sanitizer for sanitizing various surfaces including hands, hardware, fixtures, appliances, countertops, equipment, utensils and specifically to a chemical-free sanitizer, more specifically to an ozone-free sanitizer and yet more specifically to an electronic sanitizer and yet more specifically to an ion source sanitizer.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is well known that many infectious diseases and pathogens are communicated through touch or contact. Therefore, commonly touched items in public areas and facilities such as doorknobs, handles, fixtures, and other surfaces may spread such infectious diseases and pathogens. People are particularly concerned with touching various surfaces in public restrooms even communal restrooms at a work place due to actual or perceived sanitary conditions of those restrooms and the users of the restrooms. However, contact with door handles, knobs and other fixtures related to the restroom is many times unavoidable. Other exemplary surfaces that may be unavoidable and be contaminated with pathogens from people or other sources, including food preparation, may include drinking fountains, kitchen counter tops, shared appliances, and nearly any other surface that multiple people may contact. Therefore, many people generally find it desirable to avoid or minimize contact with such surfaces when possible.
People are particularly concerned with the cleanliness of surfaces after washing their hands or before the eating of food. However, touching many of the surfaces in a restroom after washing hands or in a kitchen while preparing food, particularly in a work place kitchen is unavoidable. For example, in most restrooms as a person must touch the handle of the door to exit a restroom, touch the same faucet handle to turn off the water that was used, to turn on the water, and other potentially contaminated surfaces, it is easy to recontaminate the recently cleaned hands. In a kitchen, other than door and fixture handles such as faucets, a refrigerator door handle, the surface of a microwave and other appliances, and light and appliance switches and controls may all be contaminated with various pathogens. Some people use extra paper towels to cover and touch handles of door or faucets in certain situations; however, generally this is wasteful and adds expense for the facility, including increased paper cost as well as increased labor cost for replacing the paper products more frequently.
A number of prior methods have been proposed, all having limited success or significant drawbacks in sanitizing various surfaces including the door handles. The first method is generally a more frequent cleaning of such surfaces; however, this increases labor costs and generally people are distrustful that the surfaces have been properly cleaned and with enough frequency. In addition, even if the cleaning was thorough and no pathogens exist on the surface, the very first contact by a person may place undesirable infectious agents or pathogens on the surface and any subsequent users may come in contact with such infectious agents or pathogens. Therefore, the more frequent cleanings do not solve the problem of contaminated surfaces.
Some facilities provide various cleaning wipes, liquids, or sponges that may be used for cleaning of the surface by a user. While these are generally capable of cleaning the surface, the use is limited to a person actually using them. A big disadvantage to these wipes, liquids, or sponges is that they require frequent replacement thereby increasing the cost for the facility. Many times these anti-bacterial sprays, liquids or wipes are empty creating an undesirable situation for the person using the facility.
To address the above problems, some manufacturers have introduced various electronic chemical sanitizers that at regular intervals with little to no interaction with a user or upon activation of a sensor, sprays a liquid on the desired surface. In addition to the increased maintenance cost as well as product cost of replacing the battery and the chemical or wet material of these chemical sanitizers, most people find it undesirable to touch a moist or damp surface, such as a moist or damp door handle even if the moisture or liquid is a sanitizing chemical. In addition, many people do not like the smell or have various chemical allergies to the chemical being used on the door handle, making widespread use undesirable. More specifically, such as in an office setting, if one worker has a chemical allergy to the cleaning device that is being used, which on a timed or activated interval sprays a door handle, it may prevent further use in that facility. To address the above problems, some people have proposed using ultraviolet sanitizers that when positioned or placed over a non-porous surface effectively sterilizes and sanitizes the surface. While such devices prevent the spread of pathogens passed on by contact by direct exposure to ultraviolet light, these devices generally are power intensive and require frequent battery changes or recharging, unless they are hardwired into a facility's electrical system and if not properly positioned or configured may have adverse health effects. Therefore, to sanitize the hardware of doors, which do not typically have readily available power supplies, even where the use is controlled by a preprogrammed timer or motion sensing to limit battery drain, the useful life is still relatively limited, requiring regular maintenance by the facility to recharge or replace batteries thereby raising costs. Many people are also concerned regarding sticking their hands on a door handle to open it where it may be bathed in ultraviolet light. The positioning of many of these devices is above a door handle or counter top which places it high enough that smaller people, such as children, may inadvertently look directly at the ultraviolet lamp which is undesirable and could cause vision issues. Therefore, the implementation of these devices as sanitizers for various fixtures that cannot fit in an enclosure has been limited due to their serious drawbacks.
To address the shortcomings with various chemical and ultraviolet light sanitizers, some manufacturers have introduced ozone sanitizers, which is known to be a potent sanitizer, for various surfaces as it is a highly reactive oxidizer. Ozone works well at killing various pathogens, and unlike chemical sanitizers, leaves no chemical residue on the treated surfaces. Ozone has been highly desirable for use in food processing plants, but otherwise has had limited practical applications. A sanitizing processing system using ozone is generally of limited use because the system must control the output of ozone in a sealed environment due to various potential health issues related to exposure to ozone. Therefore, ozone as a sanitizer is only used in large industrial settings and has not been successfully implemented in households or small commercial applications. More specifically, the application of ozone sanitizing systems has been extremely limited by the more recent understanding that ozone may cause various health issues, including according to the EPA, respiratory issues such as lung function, decrements, inflammation and permeability, susceptibility to infection, cardiac issues and increasing respiratory symptoms including increased medication use, asthma attacks and more. Exemplary respiratory symptoms from ozone exposure can include coughing, throat irritation, pain, burning, or discomfort in the chest when taking a deep breath, chest tightness, wheezing or shortness of breath. For some people, more acute or serious symptomatic responses may occur. As the concentration at which ozone effects are first observed depends mainly on the sensitivity of the individual, even some parts per billion exposure may cause noticeable issues. Therefore, other than commercial environments where the ozone application may be specifically controlled, these systems are not desirable for a broader implementation in homes, work places and other facilities, where the ozone is not easily contained, such as apparatuses that function as a door handle sanitizer for an operational door.
Therefore, there is a need for an effective sanitizer that does not include the above identified limitations.